Lets go somewhere far together
by super trooper
Summary: the last chpt (this one works this time!) please read and review, i cant believe i actually finished it!
1. chapter 1

Authors note: It's set at the end of season 3 I guess, they're in their last week of school and got the summer holidays to spend their last weeks together.  Fairly steady relationship, sleeping with each other, love each other.  Both might seem out of character but this is how I'm writing it.  I don't know if it's R material, what Americans think is R Australians totally don't.  8 Mile here was M which basically means a 5 year old could go see it if they wanted to.  So if its R and I offending u by putting it PG, please tell me.  Sorry if the 1st chapt is a bit short.

Summary: Road trip baby.

Disclaimer: Don't own nothing.

Let's go somewhere far together

Rory laid there on her bed and drew herself closer to Jess.  She said to him quietly,

"I like this town; it seems so much cleaner than any other place I've been."

"But you've hardly been anywhere."

"But I'm going to travel and it will be dirtier than here."

"Where will you go?"

"Somewhere far."

"Yes.  I want to go somewhere far."

"Do you like this town?"

"No."

"Then why are you still here?"

"I don't know.  Why are you still here?"

"I don't know either."

"Let's go somewhere far together."

"Let's go as far as the stars."

"And we'll stay together for so long."

"And we'll live in a place so dirty."

"And we'll never come back."

"Yes.  I'd like that."

Both the young people closed their eyes and dreamed of going so far.

It was the next day and she was tired.  She walked into her empty house and took off her shoes and stockings.  It was hot and her body felt dirty.  Her uniform made her sweat all day.  She went into her room and slid her skirt off her waist and pulled her shirt over her head.  She let them drop to the floor and appreciated the few hours she had after school before her mum came home from work.   She smelt her sweat and her face was shiny and she turned on her fan and laid down on her bed in exhaustion.  She was in her pale pink bra and white cotton undies.  Jess climbed through her window and sat on the bed beside her.  He was not shocked to see her in her undies.  He was used to her naked now.  She did not turn to him and he kept his head to the floor, they did not look at each other.  He laid his hand on her bum and talked softly.

"I still want to go far."

"Yes.  Maybe we can drive away together."

"That would be nice.  We could drive away from it all."

"And only when we ran out of petrol and money would we stop driving."

"And we would never drive back here."

"No."

They sat in silence but to her the silence seemed to say so much.  She was still sweating.  Her pillows and sheets started to smell like her sweat now.  She stood up and went into the bathroom.  He followed her and watched as she went got out of her undies and into the shower.  He did not follow her into the shower but sat on the toilet seat.  She did not shut the curtain shower.  His eyes were to the ground and she knew he was dreaming.  Of a place that was not here.

They had been together forever now.  She could not remember when she got used to sleeping with him but she knew she liked it and could never go back.  Her mother did not know and she wasn't going to tell her.  It was their last weeks together now.  The summer was a few days away and after that would be Harvard.  And for him, Columbia.  They weren't going to try to make it work.   They knew they were going to leave. They weren't stupid.  They were going to say goodbye and they were going to move on.  Life wasn't Dawson's Creek.

She scrubbed the invisible dirt away from her body that she knew was there and turned to him through the steam of the shower.  She stood in all her glory and did not feel embarrassed.  She spoke over the drumming water.

"Let's really drive away together Jess."

"All my bags are packed."

"I'm ready to go."

"I'm standing here outside your door."

"I hate to wake you up to say good bye."

She hummed the tune and smiled at him.  She turned off the shower and dried herself with a towel.  She wrapped it around her and sat down on his lap.  She put her arms around his neck and he smelt in her clean smell.  Water dripped off her hair and it dripped down her skin and stuck to her lashes.  

"I mean it Jess.  Let's do a road trip together."

"For the summer."

"For the summer.  Then we drive back here at the end."

"And we leave each other."

"Forever."

"And all the memories we will have left will be our road trip."

"And when I'm at Harvard, and people ask what I did for the summer, I'll say I went on the best road trip ever with my boyfriend."

"With your ex-boyfriend."

"With my ex-boyfriend."

"I don't want to be called that."

"But it will happen."

"Everything will eventually happen."

"Yes.  Maybe if we met each other when we were older, we would've married each other."

"But we didn't."

"No."

"I want to go on a road trip with you Rory."

"Then we will go then."

"I wish we didn't have to drive back here though."

"Maybe we don't."

"No, we do.  You can't drive away from reality."

"Thelma and Louise did."

She played with his hand and looked at their blurred reflection in the fogged up mirror.  Just like them.  Two confused kids who looked at the world and could not see through fog and understand it all.  He sighed.

"Maybe that's not a bad way to end Ror."

She kissed him deeply.  He looked scared.

"I don't want to go back to New York.  I don't want to leave you."

"Lets just go on our road trip and forget about it all, just like our dream."

"But we have to come back."

"Let's just pretend that we don't Jess.  Let's just pretend that we don't."

The fog and steam started to fade away and the heat in the bathroom started to drop temperature.  She was cold now.  But she did not move.  She knew that Jess did not want to move.  She knew he wanted to stay here holding here and thinking of driving far away and pretending they didn't have to return.


	2. Chapter 2

Authors note: It's set at the end of season 3 I guess, they're in their last week of school and got the summer holidays to spend their last weeks together.  Fairly steady relationship, sleeping with each other, love each other.  Both might seem out of character but this is how I'm writing it.  Songs which you might not have picked up on are  Leaving on a Jet plane (that was in the first chapt too), Jack and Diane and No More Maybes.

Summary: Road trip baby.

Disclaimer: Don't own nothing.  Includin the songs.

Let's go somewhere far together

She threw her heavy suitcase in the boot.  It smelt of sugar and had brown chocolate stains on it from when she hid her lollies in the Grade Six camp but it was her favourite suitcase.  Other than the chocolate stains, it looked brand new; she had barely used it.  She saw Jess's suitcase.  It was navy blue and the corners were worn away.  It had still plane stickers on it with destinations on it that she never knew he had been to.  Jess Mariano was written on it in big, faded child-like letters and it was covered in scratches and holes; it was a suitcase that had been used.

She shut the boot and went over and hugged her frowning mother.  It was the first day of the summer and the first day of driving oh so far and pretending that they would never come back.  Her mother did not want her to go but she did not care.  She and Jess were going to drive anywhere they wanted and they were going to see so many things.  Jess had seen most things and she had seen nothing except a few things but neither had seen things together.   They did not have a plan.  Maybe they would drive to Texas and then they would go to Disney World.  Then they would go to Memphis to see hundreds of Elvis'. Or maybe they wouldn't.  Maybe they would just drive to one place and stay for the whole summer.  All they knew that they had some money and that some money would help them.  They had packed a tent and blankets and planned to either to sleep in the car or the tent, they would try not to stretch their money to motels.  

Her mother was still hugging her.

"Don't do anything that you wouldn't do."

"No mum."

"I really wish we could go to Europe together like we planned."

"Well you never followed up on the plan like I asked.  And Jess got this all organised in a matter of days.  He beat you."

"Yeah, a car, a tent, a blanket and clothes.  That would've been so hard for him to organise."

She sighed and shook her head.  She kissed her mother on the cheek and knew something had changed.  She was maturing and didn't need her mother anymore.  She was tired of her now.  She was looking forward to two months without her.

She climbed into the car and grinned at Jess.  He turned on the engine and she waved goodbye to her mother but stopped once he started to drive away.  She leaned over and rested her head on his shoulder.  It was their adventure now.  Theirs, with no one else part of it.  Their adventure where they were going to drive away from it all.

She lifted opened her tired eyes and looked around at her surroundings.  She had been napping.  She had forgotten where she was.  She remembered now.  She was in Jess's car but she didn't know where they were.  They had decided on going to Boston first and she supposed that's where they were driving to but all she could see were trees.  The car smelt like cigarettes and empty Vanilla Coke bottles and butts were at her feet.  She curled up closer on the plush padding that was spilling out of the sides of her seat.   Her seatbelt was choking her and she twisted it back behind her; knowing it would cost her if they had an accident.  She rolled down the window and breathed in the air and stared at the trees.  She wondered what kind of life she would have if her road trip was in a car with leather seats and tan interior that said BMW everywhere.  Jess was humming with Jack Johnson on the radio and for the first time since she woke up, she felt his presence.  She turned to him.

"You're up, my sleepy beauty."

"It's sleeping beauty, not sleepy beauty."

"But you're not sleeping anymore, you just look sleepy."

"I like this song."

"I like it too."

"I like what he says. _ 'Everyone laughed at her joke.  As if they'd never even heard it before.  And maybe they were truly amused.'  That's what people do, don't they.  He says what true."_

"That's the job of a songwriter."

"Yes."

They kept driving on and little was said.  Soon they reached a point where the radio received no signal and it was truly quiet.  Jess cleared his throat.

"Let's not say goodbye, Ror."

"What?"

"I don't want to say goodbye.  I don't like goodbyes."

"Oh?"

"If I say goodbye, I don't know whether we'll ever see each other again."

"I doubt we will."

"I wish it was only a temporary goodbye.  I wish I could I say goodbye and know I'll see you again in a few days.

"So kiss me and smile for me."

"Tell me that you'll wait for me."

"Hold me like you'll never let me go."

"Cause I'm leaving on a jet plane."

"Don't know when I'll be back again."

"Oh babe I hate to go."

She leaned over and held his hand.

"Oh babe I hate to go," He repeated.  

They drove on and when they saw a truck stop, they pulled in and they both got out.  She stretched her tired legs and smelt the smell of petrol.  She took a deep breath in, she loved the smell.  Jess went to fill up the car and she went in to restaurant and sat down at a booth and laid her head down on the table.  The table was white plastic and sticky under her head and everything smelled like grease.  The seats were red plush cushion, like the seats in Jess's car and the foam was coming out at tears and fork holes.  It was empty and country music played on a tape cassette.  She picked up the laminated menu.  It was slippery with salt and tomato sauce from the last person and someone had scratched cuss words along the side it with a knife.  Jess sat down beside her, not opposite her and buried his head in her neck.  

The waitress wandered over and chewed what seemed to be tobacco and curtly said, 

"What's your order?"

"Two large hamburgers with everything, two orders of hot chips and two large Cokes," Rory said politely.

"We've only got Pepsi," she mono-toned, repeating something that she said a hundred times a day.

"Two Sprites then" was Jess's muffled reply from Rory's neck.  

"Whatever," the waitress said, walking away.

He lifted his head from her neck.

"You smell nicer than this place."

"Yes.  Like Estee Lauder's 'Pleasures'".  

"I like that perfume."

"You bought it for me."

"Yes, I know.  Now whenever I smell it, it reminds of you."

"How many other girls have you smelt it on?"

"Don't worry; out of all of them, you're my favourite one."

"I should hope so."

"It's hot."

"I know, I'm all sticky."

"And when you're feeling icky and you're skin's all sticky," he sang.

"Don't you know that it's love baby? Oh, it's love and there are no maybes," she joined in.

"Oh that's all that's left baby.  You, me and no more maybes.  You, me and love baby."

"Oh baby, and never anymore maybes," she sang away softly.

She drummed her fingers on the table.

"There are always maybes."

"Yes I think so."

"Who lives in a world with no maybes?"

"A world that we don't live in Jess."

He shrugged.  He was wearing faded blue baggy denim Lee's and a black Foo Fighters shirt.  He wore big, clumsy Ethnies on his feet and a Yankees cap on his head and she never thought he looked more attractive.  

Their food arrived and he ate speedily as he woofed down the chips and burger.  She watched him and felt her love for him so strongly.

She placed her hand on his shoulder and giggled, as he turned to her with tomato sauce on his chin and beetroot hanging from his burger.

"What?" He said gruffly with his mouth full.

"You make me happy, you know that Jess?"

He grinned at her with a mouth full of burger and she cracked up.

She began to eat and they sat in the truck stop for a very long time, eating and laughing.

When they drove away, with a full tank and bellies, he carefully tried to bring the subject up again.

"No goodbyes okay Ror?"

"It doesn't matter."

"I think it does."

"It doesn't matter 'cas we're never leaving."

"Oh?"

"Yes, we're just driving around for the rest of our lives aren't we Jess remember?"

'Oh.  Yes.  I remember."

"I thought you did."

"I don't like pretending really, Ror."  

"Really?"

"When I'm pretending, I know I'm pretending.  I know what I'm doing isn't real and I know that it has to stop."

"Can't you just runaway from it all, never go back?"

"But that's it see, we aren't running away from it all, we are going back."

"Maybe we won't."

"No, we will.  We will go back because you want to go to Harvard."

"Maybe I don't want to go to Harvard."

"No, that's the thing.  You do want to go to Harvard."

"Jess, let's just forget about it okay?"

"But I can't."

"Jack, just scratch your head and do your best James Dean."

"Well you know Diane, we oughtta run out of the city."

"Baby, you ain't missin' no-thing."

"Oh yeah, life goes on."

He sighed.

"We're just two American kids doing the best we can, I guess."

She leaned over and kissed him on the cheek.  

"And it's the right thing Jess.  Just keep driving and try to forget okay? Always try to forget."

"Maybe."


	3. chapter 3

Authors note: It's set at the end of season 3 I guess, they're in their last week of school and got the summer holidays to spend their last weeks together.  Fairly steady relationship, sleeping with each other, love each other.  Both might seem out of character but this is how I'm writing it.  Songs which you might not have picked up on are  The Drugs Don't Work.

Summary: Road trip baby.

Disclaimer: Don't own nothing.  Includin the songs.

This doesn't have much a plot does it? But that's how im writing it.  I like it, its just rory and jess floating through life.  Ummm, never been to America so don't know if boston is like a day trip from Hartford or less or more but I cant be bothered to correct if its wrong so just bear with me.   Its poetic justice okay?

Let's go somewhere far together

Chapter 3

It was getting dark now.  They were closer to Boston now; they could see the outline of the city now, as they drove to the top of a hill.

"So this is Boston."

"Yes.  Get used to this view baby."

"Yes, I guess I will have to, won't I?"

"This time next year you'll living in there."

"And I'll be driving back in the opposite direction."

"Back to Stars Hollow."

"Will you go back to Stars Hollow on your holidays?"

"No."

"Where will you go then?"

"I don't know."

"You have to go home for holidays though."

"But I don't have a home."

"Yes you do."

"Do I?"

"I thought you did."

"Sometime you just want to think things like that."

"Do you want to think things like that?"

"I used too."

"Oh.  Too old for things like that now?"

"Aren't we too old for everything now?"

"Yes, I suppose."

They drove into the city, the traffic getting heavier and the noises getting louder.

"I'm just a kid Ror."

"So am I."

They drove even further in, and she took in the beautiful city and her stomach did flip flops in excitement.

"I've seen too much of this world for a kid."

"You can't go back though."

"No, you can never go back."

She looked at the tall skyscrapers and she understood why they had that name.  She stuck her head out the window and her large and wandering eyes tried to take in everything.  Beside her, Jess sighed.

"I'm just a kid."

She took his hand and kissed it.  

"I'm just a kid," he repeated.

They stopped outside at small motel.  It was the cheapest one they could find and it showed.  The no vacancy light was not lit and the 'no' part was rusting away and was covered in black exhaust fumes.  The motel had not been full for a long time.  They entered room number 12, where they could see their car from window, just how Jess liked it.  It was a small room, with a double bed and a television.  The bed had a big heavy wooden frame and smelt like pine and the doona cover was a dark dirty blue.  The carpet was sickly green with fresh vacuum marks still on it.  A fluorescent light was above them and she dared not entered the bathroom.  She silently told Jess to enter first and he did, checking the toilet and shower.  It was clean enough and she rushed in there and together they showered.  He washed her and she washed him and they stayed in there forever, making love in warm, muscle relaxing water.  Later they were lying on the bed and he was brushing her hair.  She hadn't washed the conditioner out properly and she kept flicking it into his eyes, as she turned her head this way and that.  They watched the Simpsons together and they laughed at the same jokes and in the same time.  They made plans together for what they were going to do in Boston tomorrow.  He left her in peace for awhile and she loved the solidarity of it all and he returned with packets of chips, beer and chocolate.

"I like chocolate."

"I do too."

"I ain't ever met a person who didn't."

"I did."

"Oh? Someone back in New York?"

"Yes. A girl called Tiffany who always had an angel smile and only laughed every once in awhile.

"Sounds like a song."

"It was.  The girls made it up."

"Really?"

"They used to sing it in primary school. 'Oh here comes Tiffany who always has an angel smile and only laughs every once in awhile.'"

"It makes her sound sad."

"Does it? Yes, I guess it does."

"Was she sad?"

"I don't know.  She had that angel smile though."

"Maybe it was pretend."

"It probably was."

"Everything seems to be."

"Including us baby."

She took a long swig of her beer.  Being with Jess had made her to start to like alcohol but she never drank enough to get drunk, she liked it better when she just got a buzz.  It didn't bother him; he didn't like to be around drunks anyway with his mother always in his memory, although he didn't mind getting drunk himself.  She wouldn't let him do it around her though.  She rolled over and giggled at him then went and pulled out pink pale nail polish from her bag.  It had become their secret thing.  Jess had taken up the habit of climbing into her bedroom window at 12 midnight every night just after they started going out.  And while of course they fooled around and slept together as most teenagers did, they picked up the habit of Jess painting her toenails in the middle of the night.  He pretended to hate it but she knew he loved it.  He groaned now, when he saw the polish but he also smiled and started to paint her toe nails.  

"I like the intimacy of this; it makes me feel closer to you."

"Does it?"

"Yes."

"I don't like it."

"Not manly enough?"

"I am MAN HEAR ME ROAR!"

"I believe the words are 'I am woman, hear me roar'."

"Women don't roar."

"Oh?"

"No."

The clock ticked the hours away loudly and she felt the headache which had been lurking in her head all day.  She laid down and put her arm over her eyes and closed her eyes.  She pretended she was blind.  She pretended all she could do was feel, hear and smell.  She could feel the cool Boston breeze through the windows, and it rustled the blinds softly.  She could smell the perfume from her wrist and she could smell Jess's clean boy smell.  His hands kept brushing against her feet and they were dry and callused, with damp blisters on them feeling icky against her skin.  She felt the coarseness of his arm and hand hairs.

"I don't want to get old," he spoke.

"Me either."

"I don't want to have a miserable life."

"All this talk of getting old is getting me down my love."

"Like a cat in a bag, waiting to drown."

"This time I'm coming down." 

He stopped painting her nails and screwed on the lid.

"That song makes me sad."

"It is a sad song."

"Does it make you sad Jess?"

"No."

"No?"

"No."

"But it does, doesn't it?"

He went and laid down beside her and wrapped his arm around her waist and kissed her chest.

"Let's just not talk for awhile okay Rory?"

"Oh, your male mind is thinking of other things right?"

"No lets just lie here for awhile and do nothing."

"Nothing?"

"Yes, nothing."

"Nothing doesn't help anyone."

"Sometimes the best thing to do is to do nothing."

"Do you think?"

"Yes."


	4. Chapter 4

Authors note: It's set at the end of season 3 I guess, they're in their last week of school and got the summer holidays to spend their last weeks together.  Fairly steady relationship, sleeping with each other, love each other.  Both might seem out of character but this is how I'm writing it.  Songs which you might not have picked up on are Zephry song and personal compliation

Summary: Road trip baby.

Disclaimer: Don't own nothing.  Includin the songs.

Sorry very short chapter. Umm…don't think a lot of people are reading this cas got no reviews but if YOU ARE reading, be kind, rewind.  And maybe before u start rewinding, maybe PLEASE could ya review.

Let's go somewhere far together

She rolled over and woke up next to Jess, her favourite thing in the whole world to do.  His bare back was facing her and she lightly traced the moles and freckles that he was covered in.  He stiffened slightly but she knew she had not wakened him; she had gotten used to his sleeping habits in the past year and knew that he would sleep through a time bomb.  He was breathing heavily and deeply and she could tell he was in dream land.  She wrapped her arms around him and kissed his back.

"Morning."

"You're up.  I thought you were gone to the world."

"I woke up when someone was tickling my back.  Do you know who that was?"

"No I have no idea.  But I'll go look if you want."

She giggled.  She liked this side of Jess.  The side she only saw.  Actually she noticed that they both acted very differently around each other than how they did to other people.  She acted a lot more of herself around Jess than she did to anyone else, even her mum.  She showed him the most sides of herself than anyone has ever seen.  Of course, it was not her true complete self, no one had seen that but it was nearly 100% true blue Rory.

"Feel that summer heat baby?"

"I feel it more than ever."

"And in this perfect weather we'll find a place together."

"We're gonna live forever."

She flicked her sweaty hair off her sticky skin.  

"Do you want money when you grow up Jess?"

"When I grow up?"

"Yes."

"Aren't we already grown up?"

"You maybe.  Not me.  Aren't I just innocent little Rory?"

"Is that what you think?"

"What?"

"Is that what you think or what people think?"

"I don't know."

"Oh?"

"You don't make me feel innocent."

"Ah, yes."

"So? You never answered my question."

"Do I want money?"

"Yeah."

"No."

"Serious?"

"Money messes it all up baby."

"But you need money to get places in life."

"Bull-fucking-shit."

"Oh.  Don't you though?" 

"It's taking the easy way.  It's not right."

"But don't you want the easy way in life?"

"Maybe.  Or maybe you want to say that you got there all on your own."

"I never knew you thought that."

"Money messes it all up baby," he repeated.

They were driving out of Boston now.  They spent the whole day walking around the beautiful city and visiting Harvard and she was tired.  But Jess was tired even more and he was sick of driving.  So he laid down in back seat as the sun was going down and she drove on.     

"Jess?"

"Hmm…" he said groggily.

"Sorry I didn't realise you had fallen asleep."

"Hmm…?" he murmured.

"Where I am driving?"

"What?"

"Like what road am I going on? What turns do I take?"

"Pick any road you want and drive baby."

"But don't we have a plan?"

"A plan?"

"Yes."

"I don't know."

"Oh."

"Exits and highways and turns don't matter baby.  Just drive, baby.  Just drive away from it all."

She smiled quietly.

"I like that plan."

"Yes."

"Just us forever."

"Forever driving."

"Forever together."

"We're going to see so much Jess."

"Ooh, baby we'll see the world and back again."

"Maybe we'll see France."

"Or maybe we'll see Egypt."

"Drink tea with the Queen in England"

"Paint smiles in Italy."

"And when we'll fall, we'll fall so far."

"We'll fall out of the sky."

"But baby we can fly."

"Ooh take my hand and close your eyes, baby we can fly."

She took his hand and smiled.  Once, what seemed so far ago, they had wandered around New York together, Jess taking her up for the Christmas holidays.  It was freezing and across from Jess's apartment, a lone busker sat, with twenty layers of clothing and a beautiful old guitar.  And Rory had grabbed Jess's hand and pulled him out of his building and made him sit with her and listen to the busker.  The poor busker deserved someone to listen to him.  And the busker sang that beautiful song.  She repeated the words over and over to herself and stored them up in the amazing memory that she, Rory Gilmore had.  They silently agreed that it was their song.  They never said it to each other or ever discussed it but they knew.  'Cause baby they were gonna see the world and back again and baby, gee baby, they could fly.

"Jess?"

"Hmmm?"

"Where'd you think we'll be in ten years?"

He sat up and stared up at the stars in the sky and sighed

"Hopefully, happy."

"Yes.  Happy.  That would be nice."

"It would be nice if I was a writer."

"And I would be a journalist."

"And we would be happy."

"Happy."

She looked at the dark road ahead of and slowed the car down a bit.  She hated driving in the dark.

"Pull over Rory."

"What?"

"Pull over."

They pulled over and Jess got out of the back seat and picked her up out of the driver's seat and put her in the passenger's.  He sat down in the drivers and buckled her seat belt for her.  She gave him a silent thanks, while loving the fact that he knew immediately that she wasn't happy and tried to change it.

"Thanks Jess, I hate just hate driving in the dark."

He shrugged.  

"Jess?"

"Hmm?"

"I hope, maybe when we're happy writers and journalists, that maybe we'll be together."

"Be happy together huh?"

"Yeah."

"Oh baby, that would be great."

"Just dreams, though."

"Yes.  Dreams.  They don't seem to come true very often though, do they?"

"Sometimes they do."

"Not our dreams."

"Not that dream."

"Uh uh.  I guess we'll just be happy without each other."

"Can that happen?"

They fell silent and drove on into the night.

But she saw him quietly shake his head.  And she felt the exact same way.


	5. chapter 5

Authors note: It's set at the end of season 3 I guess, they're in their last week of school and got the summer holidays to spend their last weeks together.  Fairly steady relationship, sleeping with each other, love each other.  Both might seem out of character but this is how I'm writing it.  Songs which you might not have picked up on are Summer days by Phoenix.

Summary: Road trip baby.

Disclaimer: Don't own nothing.  Includin the songs.

They have a fight this chpt.  I felt it was coming up, you can't be stuck in a car with each other for three days and not have one little fight.  Also the beginning might seems a little too corny but im around a lot of couples right now who have just finished school and are leavin each other and they act just like that, believe whether u want to or not.

Oh and PLEASE review.  I need a bit of help on this one, storyline wise.  Please tell me what YOU want to happen cas im havin heaps of trouble deciding.

Dedicated to my favourite songs everywhere.  U guys help me live through life without crashing.  All I need is a song and I smile.  

Let's go somewhere far together

It was the next morning, at four a.m.  She was sitting on the bonnet of the car, looking at the sunrise.  The air was cool and tickled her feet.  Two hour old rain dripped down the side of the car and splashed on her toes.  Jess was lying beside her, his arm over his eyes, blocking his face to the world.

"Jess, sit up!"

"What?"

"Sit up baby face, you're missing the sunrise."

"I've missed out on a lot of things."

The sun was a bright, yellow circle and she half-expected two black eyes and a smile to be on it.  

"Jess, it's so beautiful, please look."

He sat up with a groan.  She grinned widely and hung back her head and laugh.  Sometimes, she felt so happy.  Only with him.  He picked up the Polaroid and took a picture of her, with the sun in the background, and her, smiling so happily.  It was only one of a million Polaroids they had taken in the past three days with a million more to come.

"Told ya it was beautiful Jess."

"It's all right."

She slipped her hand in his.

"You know, where do you reckon we'll be watching this sunset next year?"

"You'll be in Stars Hollow, fresh from Harvard.  I'll be in Italy."

"Italy?"

"Yes.  Italy."

"What happened to college?"

"College? I don't need it."

"Really."

"Yes.  I've decided as we speak that I am going to Italy."

"What will you do in Italy?"

"Write the world's greatest novel."

"Can I have the first copy?"  

"It will be dedicated to you."

"Promise?"

"Promise."

"That would nice."

"It will happen Ror.  I'm going to make it happen."

"I know you will Jess."

"And that's why it will happen."

She giggled.  

"Let's take a photo Jess."

"I think we've already done that a trillion times in the past 72 hours, don't you?"

"No.  This is one is history breaking."

"Really."

She grabbed the camera out of Jess's hand and leaned back into his body, holding the camera out in front of them.  She smiled hugely, trying not to laugh and he crossed his eyes and stuck up his middle finger and the camera clicked, capturing two people stuck in a time forever.  

"History breaking Jess.  This is exactly when we decided what we were going to do for the rest of our lives.  The day Jess Mariano decided he was gonna be a writer.  Only a year before he wrote the world's greatest novel.  And only a year before I become the youngest journalist for the _New York Times._"

"That photo will be famous baby."

"Oh yes."

He picked her up and hugged her.  She smelt like clean soap.  It was later on in the day and they had driven into a town that neither really knew the name of.  Then they pretended they were part of a gym's membership so they could use the showers.  And now, she had just gotten off a payphone, talking to her mother while he sat down on a bench a few metres away with their McDonalds.  She sat down on the dirty park bench and took a long swig of her Coke. 

"What did she say, my coffee-bean?"

She shrugged.

"The usual stuff."

"Angry?"

"Doesn't she always seem to be?"

"Only when it's about me."

"Don't be silly."

"Don't say that to me.  I'm not stupid."

"No Jess, you definitely are not."

He sighed.

"Are we fighting?"

"No."

"It feels like we are."

"Jess just eat your cheese burger okay?"

"I don't want this trip ruined."

"It's not, okay!"

"Especially ruined by Lorelai."

"Shut up!"

"Don't say that to me!"

"Well stop talking shit about my mum!"

"Jeez, you're itching my scar right now."

She paused.  His eyes were narrowed and his mouth was twisted.  But she couldn't help but laugh, an angry laugh.

"I'm itching your scar right now? What the hell is that?"

He lifted up his shirt where a small scar ran from his belly button, a reminder of falling off his chair in class and landing on scissors when he was in Grade Two.

"What about it?"

"Shane used to tickle it.  Bugged the fuck out of me."

"Shane?"

"What?"

"Shane, my favourite name."

"Oh I don't have time for this."

"Why? Where are you going?"

He stood tall and looked angry.  He hated sarcastic bullshit as he called it when they were fighting.  It always set him off.

"Away from you, my coffee bean."

He stalked off into the car and drove away.

She sighed and sat down in the park bench as the car disappeared.

She sat for so long.  It was only 9am when he had left her and now it was 2:16 and 52 seconds.  She wanted to cry but wouldn't let herself.

He pulled up along the park bench from nowhere.

She got in the car, silently and Jess laid his head down on the steering wheel.  He seemed to be thinking.  He turned to her and she saw her favourite pairs of eyes in the whole world.

He spoke.

"I've spent all summer days driving."

"I'm tired of holidays ruined," She replied knowing the words of which he spoke.

"No more take-away, expired food."

"I need a real day."

She wrapped her arms around him.

"Let's stop doing this Jess."

He nodded.

"I'm an idiot."

"No you're not."

"No I am."

"Jess."

"Everybody was right."

"Right about what?"

"About everything."

"Oh Jess."

"What are you doing here with me Ror?"

"What?"

"You could've been a princess."

"Oh?"

"And I made you the black sheep.  The princess who ran away with the poor man and was kicked out of the family."

"Sounds like a fairytale."

"Doesn't feel like one."

"You're forgetting about the ending."

"The ending?"

"Yeah.  Where the princess and the poor man overcome everyone who said they wouldn't make it and live happily ever after."

"That doesn't happen."

"Let's make it happen."

"Rory."

"What?"

"This is it."

"What?"

"This is it Ror.  This is the last time we'll be together.  Summer will be over and we will be over."

"No."

"Rory.  Do you think that we're in a movie here?"

"Can't we just pretend?"

"I don't know."

"Oh Jess baby, let's just pretend."

"I don't know."

"Baby, let's just pretend."

He sighed and kissed her for a long, long time.

"One day you'll wake up Rory.  We'll just be driving along, we could be anywhere and it could be tomorrow or next month or the last day of the holidays.  And you'll know that it is over.

"No I won't."

"You'll know that it will be over because you know it has to be."

"Jess don't say things like that."

"One day the pretending will stop Rory."

"Jess."

"Because it has to stop."

"No it doesn't."

"Round and round it goes, when it stops nobody knows.  The only thing everybody knows is that it has to."

"Jess come into my mind."

"Rory."

"Come into my mind Jess.  See what I see.  See that future, see that future where we're together?"

"Rory."

"Jess."  She was crying now.

"Oh baby I'm sorry.  But come into my mind.  See what I see.  See that future?  See that world that we are going to live in?  See me so far away from you?"

"Jess stop."

"See that world?  See that future?"

She started to sob.

"Oh baby let's forget it.  Let's forget for as long as we can.  But Rory, as long as we can is only as long as these holidays.  Then we're in that world.  That's our future, coffee bean."

She sniffled.

"Don't worry.  We can make it without each other.  We can make it."

Was he saying it to himself or to her?  

"Oh Jess.  I don't want to make it."


	6. Chapter 6

Authors note: It's set at the end of season 3 I guess, they're in their last week of school and got the summer holidays to spend their last weeks together.  Fairly steady relationship, sleeping with each other, love each other.  Both might seem out of character but this is how I'm writing it.  Songs which you might not have picked up on are Shimmer by Fuel.

Summary: Road trip baby.

Disclaimer: Don't own nothing.  Includin the songs.

Only another couple chapters to come out of this.  Question, do you want to read them say goodbye or would u want to skip it, incase its too corny or something? Read and review!

Let's go somewhere far together

Chapter 6

She rolled over and sighed.  It was the next day and she and Jess were squished in his car, lying down on the back seat, sleeping there for the night.  It wasn't that bad really, it was comforting in a way, he holding her close so she didn't fall off the seat and she loved being close to him.  She turned again, this time facing him and buried herself in his chest.  He smelt like him.  And that was the best smell in the world.  The sun filtered through and warmed her face and a garage truck rumbled by and vibrated the car.  He groaned and slowly woke up.  He opened his eyes to her, only a few centimetres away.  She stretched her arm and hit the window and cussed, nursing her now bruised arm.  She spoke.      

"This sucks."

"I can think of something worse."

"Oh?"

"Yes.  We could be back home."

"I suppose."

"Or we could be dead."

"I would rather be dead than be at home."

"A bit dramatic, don't you think?"

"Yes."

"But that's how you feel, right?"

"That's how I feel."

"I hate people who get mad about how you feel."

"Hate?"

"Yes, hate."

"That's a strong word."

"Maybe.  But I do hate them."

"As long as you truly do."

"Yes.  Don't use that word unless you don't mean it."

"Oh no."

There was a pause.  Then she whispered.

"I hate myself."

Jess sighed and pulled her closer.  He couldn't say anything and she didn't want him to.

Time passed, as time does.  The sun went up in the sky and it went back down.  Her hair grew longer, and she wanted to cut it.  Their money was ending now.  They fought more and resolved nothing.  Jess got a haircut like Johnny Knoxville on early Jackass, obeying a dare from two surfers called Trucker and Dunny and she laughed every time she saw him.   But then she got used to it and it suited him it seemed so she called him Johnny and it became his second name.  They drove to California and got tans dark as the earth and then drove back again and watched their tans fade away.  They walked around the Grand Canyon and she tried to jump and he wanted to fly.  They sat in Central Park and sunbaked for hours, and got their tans back.  With their olive, olive skin they knew it was time to go back.  People would look at them and know that they had escaped from the town and seen places.  That they didn't need the town, oh no.  

They slammed the boot shut full of things they had souvenired and millions of photos they had taken.

Jess looked around New York and sighed and got in the car.  He would be coming back here in a matter of days.

Rory look around New York and whimpered.  She wanted to stay here.  But baby reality was staring them in the face and she wasn't supposed to be here.  Follow your heart baby but listen to reality.  

They drove on, back to the town that was holding them back before they would escape to the world.  

She watched as the trees became taller as they drove out the city.

"Jess?"

"Yeah?"

"I have found all that shimmer in this world is sure to fade."

He snorted then said,

"I suppose you'll call me from the cold."

"Just when you were low, feeling short of stable."

"And all that you intend and all you keep inside isn't on the label."

"I'll say I'm ashamed."

"Then you'll say, can you take me for awhile?"

"Can I be a friend, we'll forget the past."

"But baby, maybe I'm not able."

"Then you break at the bend."

"And you watch me break at the bend, Ror."

They smiled shyly to each other.

"A million and one."

"What?"

"Don't you think Jess? We've said nearly a million and one songs these holidays."

"Yes we have, haven't we?"

"Barely ever singing them either."

"Oh, you don't want to hear me sing."

"Oh Johnny I think you'd be great."

"Maybe."

He grinned.

"It's nearing the end."

"Yes, it is, isn't it."

She tapped her fingers against the window.

"Do you still want to go to Italy Jess?"

"Oh baby it's my dream."

"But?"

"But…I don't have the money Ror."

"Oh."

"But I'll just pretend right?"

"Pretend?"

"Yes, your favourite thing in the whole world baby."

"I don't know."

"I'll just pretend okay? I'll say goodbye and then I'll drive to airport and I'll fly away, fly right into Italy."

"Just like that?"

"Just like that."

"Easy."

"And when I get there, I won't know where to go and I won't understand what they say.  But somehow I'll find a way and I'll end up living in a beautiful shack on the river and I'll write the greatest book there ever was."

"About what?"

"About a boy from New York and a girl with a Polaroid camera who wants to drive away.  And she's really lucky 'cas the boy wants to as well and he's got a car.  So they jump in the car and slam the doors and don't look back, not even in the review mirror."

"Then what happens?"

"They drive but then they get tired and leave each other and he moves to Italy because he wants to and she won't, because she doesn't want to."

"Then what happens?"

"I don't know."

"Maybe she follows him."

"And he hasn't forgotten her."

"So when she turns up on his doorstep, he picks her up and swings her around and throws his demons into the river."

He smiles.

"That's one good thing about a book; you can write your own ending."

"Can't we?"

"I think you're the one pretending now, Rory."

"Maybe."   

They drove further on.

"Johnny Knoxville with your funny hair, I think you can go to Italy."

"I think I can too."

"Oh."

"I think I can but I know I can't."

"Is that possible?"

"Yes."

"Oh, Jess."

She watched as they drove passed a fruit stand on the side of the road.  

"Do you mind me calling you Johnny, Jess?"

"No."

"No?"

"Yes, I really don't mind."

"I like it."

"Me too.  It took awhile to get used to, sometimes being Johnny, sometimes being Jess but I like it."

"I'm glad you do."

"Reminds me of my neighbour."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, her real name was Lucy but everyone called her Sally Sue.  Sometimes you called her Lucy, sometimes you called her Sal."

"Depends what mood you were in, right?"

"Right.  Just like any other nickname."

"Why'd they called her Sally Sue."

"You know, I don't know."

"Oh?"

"We just did."

"Sometimes things are the way they are just because they are."

"Exactly."

The road they drove on was black tar and she could see the heat rising off it, even though it was nearly dark.

She laughed, recalling a conversation they had so long ago.

"I like this town we're entering, it seems so much cleaner than any other place I've been."

 "And you've been everywhere."

"Yes.  I travelled everywhere and everywhere was dirtier.

"And you didn't know where you were going."

"No.  But I went somewhere far."

"And I went with you, because I wanted to go far."

"And you didn't like this town we're about to enter."

"No."

"So you aren't staying, you aren't going to be here forever."

"No, and I don't know why.  And you didn't want to stay in this town forever."

"And I don't know why either."

"So we went somewhere far together."

"We went as far as the stars."

"We stayed together for so long."

"And we stayed in so many dirty places."

"But we had to come back."

"And both of us don't like that."

"Both of us hate that." 

She sighed and touched dainty toes which were painted with a French tip and were tanned.  They looked pretty and old and mature and she didn't recognised her own feet.

"Johnny?"

"Hmm?"

"We're nearing town, right?"

"Only half an hour away."

"Well, don't you think we should…"

"What?"

"Talk about it."

"About what?"

"You know."

"About leaving?"

"Yes, about leaving Jess."

"No."

"No?"

"We've still got a couple of days around Stars Hollow Ror.  We'll say goodbye when we finally have to."

"I guess."

"Baby come here and hold my hand tight."

She obeyed.

"Let's just stop thinking about the future okay?"

"Okay."

She smiled.

"It has been a pretty good time, hasn't it?"

"Oh the best Ror."

They drove closer into the town.


	7. chapter 7

Authors note: It's set at the end of season 3 I guess, they're in their last week of school and got the summer holidays to spend their last weeks together.  Fairly steady relationship, sleeping with each other, love each other.  Both might seem out of character but this is how I'm writing it.  Songs which you might not have picked up on are You're so Vain by Carly Simon.

Summary: Road trip baby.

Disclaimer: Don't own nothing.  Includin the songs.

Only another couple chapters to come out of this.  Question, do you want to read them say goodbye or would u want to skip it, incase its too corny or something? Read and review!

Let's go somewhere far together

Chapter 7 

Their trip was ending now and they were driving into town.

She swallowed hard when she saw Luke's Diner.  It was the same and nothing had changed.  But she had changed and so had Jess so they looked at Luke's and saw something different.

"Johnny drop me off here"

"No, I'll take you home."

"No, it's okay.  You've driven me around for long enough.  I'll just walk home."

"Okay."

He parked and they both got out and got their suitcases from the boot.  He looked at Luke's and he turned pale, although pale wasn't as pale with his new tan.  

She reached over and took his hand.  He turned to her and he looked scared and she knew he really really didn't want to go back.  But he had to.  

"Oh Johnny," she whispered.

She leant forward and hugged him and he held on tight and shuddered.  He leaned into her ear and whispered a poem she knew well and she joined in.

"Oh the dreaming's stopped."

"And the world's woken up."

"And all everyone has asked themselves,"

"Is were we ever happy?"

"Or were we stuck in dreamland?"

They stood there on the corner, kissing for a long, long time and she felt the people walk pass and stare.  She heard a few people mutter her and his name and she knew that it would soon spread that the poor man and his princess were back.  But she didn't register it really, and ignored the universe that she didn't want to be a part of and lived in the last moments of her and Jess's universe, one full of motels and roads and cities and photos and sunrises and people called Trucker and Dunny and waitresses who chewed tobacco, and Johnny Knoxville and his funny hair and their car which now no longer smelled like cigarettes but like them.  Then they stopped and the universe closed shut and Jess, with a gulp walked into Luke's and she walked back home.

She walked back into her house and flopped down on her bed.  The stars twinkled brightly.  She could hear the shower running so she knew where her mum was.  She slowly opened her suitcase and slowly started to unpack.  She pulled out the bag, where millions of Polaroids were in it  and she dumped all the photos on her bed.  She was lying there, on her side, looking at all her photos, when her mum came in, a few minutes later.

"Rory! Thank god it's you! I had no idea who it was, the front door was wide open."

"Hi Mum."

Her mum squealed and jumped on the bed and hugged her fiercely.  

"Oh Rorrest Rump, I missed you so much!"

Rory patted her mum slowly on the back.  She still couldn't get used to that she was here, lying on her bed and not parked in some motel car park, lying down on the backseat in the car with Jess, her Johnny.

"Tell me everything!"

"Like what?"

"Everything!"

She shrugged.

Her mother didn't notice, her eyes were on all the photos that covered her bed.

"Ooh, can I look? Gosh how many are there!"

"No, you can't look."

"What?"

Her mother stood up and looked hurt.  And she, Rory, felt mean.

"Oh I'm sorry Mum.  Let me put them in order first, okay? I just want to look over them first by myself, okay?"

Her mother nodded, silently.  

"You've changed a bit, haven't Rory?"

"Have I?"

Her mother nodded again.

"You're a different person."

"Maybe I'm just my own person."

"You even look different."

"I'm just tanned."

"No, you look old.  And tanned and mature and wise and tired and happy but sad and oh, so many things."

"Is it a bad change?"

"No.  But you changed without me."

"Did I?"

"Yes.  Oh Rory, you moved on in life and it looks like you've moved so far."

"I guess I have then."

"And you didn't do it with me.  You did with Jess."

"Oh Johnny's the same.  Or maybe he's not, I don't know.  What sort of change are you talking about?"

"Who's Johnny?"

"Jess.  Here, look at this photo.  He got a Johnny Knoxville haircut."

"So he did."

"Do you like it?"

"No, it doesn't suit him."

"Oh I think it does.  He got it cut at this swanky place in California."

 "Is that where you went on your trip, to California."

"Oh we went to millions of places."

Her mother nodded once again and watched, as her daughter chatted on about this magical trip that she had and the millions of memories that she had stored up along and the way and her mother knew that she would never hear every story about that trip, because Rory wanted to keep some things to herself.  And her mother didn't recognise this tan, happy girl whose boyfriend was now Johnny, not Jess.

Her mother plopped down on the bed and Rory went and laid beside her.

"So did Jess talk at all during this 'sugar dandy adventure'? Or did he just grunt the whole time?" her mother yipped.

Rory nodded.

"People don't see what he's really like Mum."

"There's another side to Jess, is that what you're trying to tell me?"

"Yes.  He's different around me."

"Yes.  You know what, you're right.  He IS different.  A different guy called Johnny.  

Tell me, this Johnny, is he nicer?"

Rory sighed.

"Just leave me alone, okay Mum? I'm tired and I haven't slept in my own bed for ages."

Her mother silently left.

She sat up and looked through at all the photos on her bed.  Luckily she was smarter enough to put a date on the back of every photo they ever took at time, but she remembered the exact order anyway, she remembered everything about the trip.  

She picked up a photo of her and Jess, lying on some tennis courts.  Dunny had taken this one.  The four of them were close, for awhile, but they were close because they knew that it wasn't going to last long and that made everything seem better, if possible.  She remembered this day.  They had been walking along, looking at all the high-rise buildings along the beach and Trucker said that he loved playing tennis.  So the next high-rise holiday home that had tennis courts that they passed, Jess jumped over the fence.  They all followed and then paid the two ten-year olds who were playing singles on the court to let them use their rackets for awhile, paying each kid twenty bucks.  But they all got sick of tennis after awhile and she and Jess sunbaked on the courts, while Trucker and Dunny went and got lunch.  She remembered their conversation, as she was propped up on her elbows, facing Jess as he laid on his towel on his stomach.  She remembered saying,

"You're so brown."

"I bet you think this song is about you."

"You're so brown."

"I bet you think this song is about you."

"Don't you, don't you." 

They both laughed.  Then Jess said,

"I hate that song."

"Oh?"

"My mum used to sing it all the time."

"Your mum?"

"Yes.  My mum."

"You hardly ever mention her."

"Why should I?"

"I don't know."

"She's a horrible woman."

"Oh Johnny."

"What you call me?"

"Johnny.  'Cas of your Johnny Knoxville haircut."

He laughed.

"Can't get used to it," he said, running his fingers through his newly cut hair.

"Blimey it's hot."

"Blimey?"

"Yes, blimey."

He looked up at her with his sunnies on and she saw herself in them and he laughed again.  He pushed her down the ground on her back and rolled on top of her.

"Jess, what are you doing?"

"Nothing."

"Oh? Don't feel like nothing."

"Baby, what I tell you before?"

"Sometimes the best thing to do is to do nothing."

"Ain't it the truth."

She giggled and he felt her stomach vibrations.  

"Look at you all happy and crap."

"It's a nice change, don't you think Jess?"

"Baby, anything you change into is nice."

"Oh don't be silly."

He grinned and leant forward and smothered her with kisses.  They rolled around and laughing and squealing; well at least she was until they heard a yell.

"Oi!"

It was Trucker and Dunny, holding greasy KFC ags.

"Caught you two in the act."

"We weren't doing nothing," protested Jess.

She held her head back and laughed and Jess looked down at her and smiled.  And while they were doing that, Dunny reached for the camara and took a photo.  Click!

And now it was just a photo of a boy and girl lying on top of each other on a tennis court on a very sunny day.  They were laughing and smiling and it was a very cute photo.  Rory smiled and got up and stuck it in the side of her dresser mirror.  

She looked through all her photos and grinned, because each one meant so much to her.  It made her feel sad that someone else would look at these photos and wouldn't think that they seemed special.  Especailly the very last one she looked at.

It was the history-breaking photo.

Anyone in the world except for her and Jess would look at and see nothing, really.  But she saw the day where history was made.  

She placed it in her beside a couple other ones that she had placed there and carefully picked up the stack of photos that were carefully in place and put them on the kitchen table, where she knew her mother would find them.  

Then for the first time in three months she fell asleep without Jess beside her.


	8. Chapter 8

Authors note: It's set at the end of season 3 I guess, they're in their last week of school and got the summer holidays to spend their last weeks together.  Fairly steady relationship, sleeping with each other, love each other.  Both might seem out of character but this is how I'm writing it.  Songs which you might not have picked up on are Three Marlena's by The Wallflowers, Media by John Butler Trio, Welcome to the Cruel World by Ben Harper and Diamonds are on the Inside by Ben Harper.

Summary: Road trip baby.

Disclaimer: Don't own nothing.  Includin the songs.

LAST CHAPTER! CAN U BELIEVE IT?!?!?!? And sorry if there aren't trains going from Hartford to NYC, THAT'S THE WAY IM WRITIN IT! Also really really sorry if its too cheesy, tell me and and Ill write another ending.

As always, PLEASE review.

Let's go somewhere far together

She rolled over and sighed.  It was the next morning and she wanted to cry.  She woke up in her bed and her warm blanket and pillows and she was happy; because she had missed her bed so much.  But then she looked around and she saw her bedroom and she smelt the smell of her house which was so familiar to her and she wanted to cry.  Because she was back here.  And she didn't want to back here.  She buried herself in pillow and took a deep breath in.  The pillow smelt of her perfume and her mum's perfume but most all it smelt like her favourite pillow in the whole world.  Actually it was her second favourite pillow in the world.  Her favourite one was Jess's.  His smelt like him and his aftershave.  It was dark blue with white stripes and had a blood stain on it, from when he rescued his mum from a drunken brawl who was left with a gash on her head and feel asleep on his bed, bleeding slightly.  She knew that pillow inside and out.  She tried to remember when the last time was when she saw that pillow.  It was the night before they went on their trip, oh it seemed ages ago.  She remembered what they talked about.

"Oh Jess this trip will be great."

"It will be the best baby."

"We'll see city lights, deserts, mountains, beaches; it's going to be all so beautiful."

She paused.  Then she spoke.

"And looking across the city lights,"

"She'd thought they'd be a good pair."

"Now he could make a living selling cars."

"Maybe she could work there."

"She's going to pick a star in the night."

"And pray to make it all right."

Jess sighed.

"Promise you won't laugh?"'

"Why would I laugh?"

"Just promise Rory."

"Okay."

"That song makes me sad."

"What?"

"It makes me sad."

"Oh Jess."

"I don't know why really."

"It's not really a sad song."

"It's like Jack and Diane in a way."

"Yes…oh does that song make you sad too?"

"Yes."

"Really?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"I don't know."

"It makes my mum sad."

"Oh?"

"Yes.  She says that she and Dad were just like that.  Sitting there, loving each other, wanting to run away together.  Then it all stuffed up.  She said all kids are like that.  Then they grow up and it stuffs up."

"And they weren't even happy when they were supposed to be happy."

"No… oh Jess it does make sad now."

He paused.  She could tell he felt uncomfortable; it wasn't often that he told her when things made him sad.  Not matter how times she asked whether things made him sad, he always lied and said that, no, it didn't.  So she started singing the song again, softly, singing their favourite bit in the whole song.  She knew he would quietly join in and still feel the sadness that was sometimes in him, but he would know that she felt it too.  That she cared about him.  That someone cared about him.  
    
    "Man, I think I'm gonna buy myself a Rolls."
    
    "Maybe a Chevrolet."
    
    "One where I can pull that top down."
    
    "Just let my radio play."
    
    "Now I'm heading out on that highway."
    
    "I'm going right out of state."
    
    "Now I ain't lookin' back until I'm gone,"
    
    "Right through heaven's gates."

She sighed, bringing herself back to present time.  It was now later on in day, and she and Jess were at the train station in Hartford.  Luke and her mother were somewhere in the background but all she saw was Jess.  His train to New York left in an hour.  Their relationship ended in an hour.  Jess pulled her over to a coffee shop and they sat down, both exhausted from nothing they could explain.  She pulled a copy of _Instyle_ from the magazine rack behind her and flipped through it, scared to look at Jess's face.  She stopped on a page about hair.

"Do you think I should get my hair cut?"

"Your hair cut?"

"Yeah.  Ooh, like Kelly Osbourne maybe!"

"No."

"No?"

"No."

"But, if I'm Kelly Osbourne and you're Johnny Knoxville, then we'll both be MTV people.  Ooh, we'll be MTV's controversial couple!"

"He would never leave his wife."

"He's married?"

"With a kid."

"Wow.  Hi, I'm Mrs Johnny Knoxville…imagine his poor wife having to say that."

Jess nodded and picked at his nails.

"So…you're going to Columbia."

"Yep."

"Cool…"

"Sure is."

Silence crept up again.

"What about Italy?"

"You don't think I don't want to go?"

"Oh…then why don't you?"

"It's not that easy."

"No.  Not for us anyway."

"No, it is easy for you."

"What?"

"If you went up to your Grandma today and said that you want to go to Italy but you don't have the money, she'd pay for your trip in a microsecond."

"No she wouldn't!"

"No, she would."

She tucked her hair behind her ears, in frustration.

"Well, you told me you don't want money anyway Jess, so you're contradicting yourself."

"I don't want money."

"It sounds like you do."

"Well I don't.  I want to go on the trip.  That's all I want."

"That's all you want?"

"That's all I want."

"If God came on this earth and promised to give you anything in the whole world right now, right this second, you'd just ask to go on the trip."

"Yes."

"Oh…I thought that maybe you would ask to stay with me…stupid I guess."

"It wasn't stupid Ror.  You never have been stupid."

"I wanted to stay together.  Obviously that was stupid."

"Sometimes you just need to know when time's up."

She stood in anger.

"Maybe, I just, just gotta go to the ladies.  Yeah, that's what I gotta do…"

She rushed off the bathrooms.

She sat on the toilet lid, not really needing to go and sighed in frustration and tried really hard to hold her tears in.  She counted the graffiti on the bathroom door to take her mind off it.  

She heard the bathroom door opened and she saw a pair of large feet in adaidas flip flops walk past her stall.  Her heart skipped a beat.  Those feet belong to Jess.

He stood in front of her door and said,

"Rory?"

"I don't wanna talk."

"Ror, come out of there."

"Jess, I don't want to believe you!"

"About what?"

"About everything! And the only reason I don't want to believe is because you're lying."

"Well what you believe is up to you."

"But what am I to believe in between the truth and lies?

"Rory I'm sick of playing this game."

"No you're not supposed to say that," she whispered, her voice breaking with the threat of tears.  "You're supposed to say don't believe the lies, read between the lines."

"Rory.  This game of pretending is over.  The game of avoiding an issue by saying song lyrics like you just did then is over."

"I wasn't avoiding an issue; I just…just like John Butler Trio okay? I just wanted to sing one of their songs."

"Oh Rory."

"No, it is so stupid! You moving to New York and me moving to Boston and those two cities not really being that far apart but at the same time being worlds away."

"Well that's life baby."

"I don't like life anymore."

"I never did like it."

She opened the door to her Jess and his eyes, which always seemed sad except when he was around her.  And now he was leaving and she felt sick, because now he would seem sad all the time.

She hugged him.

"Come on.  Lets go sit on uncomfy chairs and watch tv and wait for my train."

She slipped her hand in his and they walked out.

His train was ten minutes away and they should've been on the platform, waiting for it.  But their eyes were glued to the television, which had tale after tale of the war in Iraq.  When she heard the story of the American solider blowing up a tent full of his friends, her stomach jumped.

"Oh Jess, why do things like happen?"

His voice was hollow and his eyes had taken him somewhere darker from here.  

"I don't know.  War is so bad baby.  It makes everyone everywhere fucked up.  Doesn't matter what side you're on, doesn't matter who you're against, it just makes you fucked up."

She sighed.

"Welcome to the cruel world."

"I'm already quite acquainted with it."

They stood up and numbingly walked down the stairs to the train platform where Luke and her mum were waiting.  With each step she plodded down, she counted all the times Jess made her feel happy.  1 – plod – when he laughs along with me, 2 – plod – when he knows when I'm upset and plays Ben Harper to cheer me up, 3 – plod – when he listens to all the stupid things I say….

Looking down at all stairs and all the things that made Jess so good to her, she turned to him in fear.

"Jess, don't leave!"

"Rory."

"Don't leave, don't leave, don't leave! You're want I want! Please don't leave."

"Make sure the fortune that you seek is the fortune that you need."

"Now you're avoiding the issue with songs!"

"Rory."  He grabbed her and they stood on the long long stair case that all big train stations seem to have, with a hundred and one steps and the people swirled around them, getting angry at the two teenagers who stopped the flow of traffic and interrupted their busy and important lives.

"Rory, look at me."

"No."

"This is it."

And it sunk in.

They got to the bottom where Jess's train was waiting already.  He hugged Luke very briefly and they said little, but Luke was trying to not to cry and Jess was trying look everywhere except at Luke.  

Then he hugged Rory.  She kissed him passionately.  They kissed for the last time.

They didn't say anything.  They had exhausted all conversations.

Jess got on the train.

She watched through the train windows, as Jess waved through the window, though not very happily.  She blew kisses to him.  The train started to pull away.

She started to run after the train, just like in the movies.  Then suddenly, she made up her mind.

She jumped through the last door and onto the train, her heat going a mile a minute.  

She heard her mum scream behind her.  

She ran through all the carriages, one, two, three, four, five, until finally she got in carriage in which Jess was in.

She jumped onto top of him and smothered him with kisses.

He stared at her in shock.

"What are you doing here?"

"Going to New York."

"What?"

"Going to New York.  With you.  And then we'll go to the airport and I'll buy two tickets to Italy.  I've got a bit of money you know."

"You don't want to do this."

Rory smiled.

"You make me happy.  And I make you smile.  And maybe we don't know what will happen.  Maybe we'll break up in a week.  Or maybe you'll push me off the train right now.  But Jess, I look at the world and it does seem cruel.  It's cruel and it makes you so sad.  So maybe if somehow in this cruel world, somehow I can be happy and you can smile, maybe somehow we're just perfect."

He looked at her and she held her breath, in fear he would tell her to get off him and go right back to her mother.  But he smiled faintly.

"Our odds and ends in life will even out our minds hey?"

"Oh Jess, that's exactly right."

She grinned so big and leaned into his arms.

He kissed her cheek.  

"What about your life back there?" he whispered, pointing out the window to the disappearing Hartford.

She smiled.

"Baby let's just runaway, never look back."

**And the people cried to the greatest poet of all time,**

**"Write us a poem about the war.  Make it real and make it raw.**

**Write us a poem abut the war.  Make it beautiful and make it true."**

**And the poet turned to them with anger in his eyes.**

**And this was all he said.**

**War is bad**

**War makes people sad**

**And that's all anyone needs to know.**

**- _An extract from 'The Voice of the Seventies: When will we look back and listen?'_**


End file.
